New recycling bins ended up at landfill after council staff accidentally threw them away

A much-publicised food waste collection service in Bournemouth has got off to a bad start after more than 100 food waste bins were accidentally thrown away by council staff. Residents who collected their food scraps for recycling were stunned to see their brand new bins thrown on to refuse lorries and carted off to landfill.

The food waste collection service was launched this week following months of publicity by the council. The £7.1million scheme was funded by central government to try and boost the amount of waste recycled in Bournemouth. The problems occurred with food caddies that were clipped into residents’ ‘little bins,’ as advised by Bournemouth council.



In some cases refuse workers forgot to remove the caddies but simply emptied the ‘little bins’ into the truck – food caddies and all. Karen Speeden, of Redhill, who saw her caddy being thrown away said: “It’s just so disappointing. You’re advised to do something, you follow the instructions exactly and yet somehow the bin gets chucked away.”

And neighbour Robert Stocker, who also lost his bin, said: “At first I thought I had done something wrong but I read the instructions again and realised it wasn’t my fault. It is very unfortunate.” Bournemouth council said it had received reports of 108 containers going missing. Each caddy costs £5 and the council has been sending replacements to affected residents. It is also attempting to recover any discarded caddies from the landfill site.